Price of betrayal
by zaterra02
Summary: Harry's life changed in his fourth year. He has secrets to keep and he is not the only one. One shot. AU. Set in 6th year


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Disclaimer

I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise.

Glad to clear that up

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May 24rd, 1996. That was the day when the wizarding nation of Great Britain trembled, brought to its knees by none other than the dark lord Voldemort. In a surprise attack, the death eater forces attacked the ministry of magic and conquered it by force. Those that were able to survive the attack were led by minister Amelia Bones to Hogwarts, where they believed that the influence of Headmaster Dumbledore could be used to maintain a resistance or even to defeat the dark lord. That was indeed the only choice. As the ancient saying goes, minister bones hoped that Dumbledore could cut the snake head and therefore kill the entire snake, saving them. Either Dumbledore or Harry Potter, the one who was prophesised to fight Voldemort.

For this reason, the great hall of Hogwarts was filled with people running around, carrying medical supplies or even food. Everyone was nervous over what could happen next. First, minister Bones arrived with news that the ministry had fallen to the dark lord and those that accompanied her were all that remained of those who decided to fight. News spread very quickly over the wizarding wireless and many wizarding families decided to come to Hogwarts and get their children to safety, despite the assurances from the headmaster that everything was fine and that there was no danger whatsoever. Clearly, Dumbledore was wrong. Apparently the dark lord was angry. He had spent the entire year planning and such plan bore fruits, as the saying goes. The dark lord also decided to finish the war as soon as possible because not even two hours after the minister forces arrival at Hogwarts, the Dark lord Voldemort arrived with his entire army, near two hundred death eaters, fifty werewolves and four giants, sieging Hogwarts. The siege lasted for three days and for those three days, heavy duty wards were cast over Hogwarts, cutting every possible chance of escape. Anti-Portkey wards, anti-Floo wards, anti mail wards and anti apparition wards. The dark lord even commanded wards to prevent Dumbledore's phoenix familiar flaming apparition and the house elves apparition. No one would escape Hogwarts. For three days, fear dominated in the ancient castle and there was nothing Dumbledore could do. to calm everyone. The dark lord had made no demands and was accepting no surrenders until he was sure they would break. Everyone was afraid and the worst was that no one could find Harry Potter, the supposed chosen one whose fate was to face the dark lord. The final lessons of the year were cancelled and everyone trained for self defence should the death eaters decide to attack. Three of Hogwarts houses were surprised that Slytherin house hadn't declared their allegiance to the dark lord. At the second day, it was discovered that Draco Malfoy had been violently cursed as an example of what would happen should anyone in the house of the cunning decided to betray Hogwarts. This, of course, happened by the hand of the Ice Queen of Slytherin, Daphne NoName, the most feared witch in Hogwarts by all the houses, even some teachers.

Daphne NoName, formerly Greengrass was known in Hogwarts as the Ice Queen because of her attitude regarding other people, especially boys. She was cold to everyone and distant. For her first five years in Hogwarts, she had been a perfect Slytherin. She was a beautiful girl and some boys make advances on her but she was powerful and quick of wand and usually got rid of unpleasant company. Draco Malfoy was one of the regulars earning her wrath. In her fourth year, the year of the TriWizard Tournament fiasco, the same year when the dark lord returned, she shook the house of the cunning by entering a deal with the fourth champion, Harry Potter. Because Harry Potter had been banished from Gryffindor after his name came out of the cup, under allegations of unbecoming behaviour for a Gryffindor and being an honourless fool and attention seeking prat (accusations rendered useless after the first task, when Harry swore an wizard's oath on his magic that he hadn't put his name in the cup, humiliating the school and the staff in the process, refusing also to take part of Gryffindor house ever again), he invited Daphne to be his date at the Yule Ball, stating that he would be honoured to escort the most beautiful girl, which would most likely provoke a fit in most Gryffindors, if not most of the school, seeing him with a snake, especially the most beautiful snake of them all. Daphne laughed. While she knew that it could be dangerous to her to antagonize almost three quarters of the school's female population and even some boys, she managed to convince Harry to teach her the spells he had used in the first task, in which he had fought and killed a dragon, despite suffering some heavy injuries, revealing great power.

Harry and Daphne were considered the best and hottest couple of the ball and there was a Veela in attendance. Every boy wanted to be Harry Potter and every girl wanted to be Daphne Greengrass. To stir the masses even more, Harry had offered Daphne a ornate silver necklace, with two claws of the dragon he killed in the first task, used as the frame of a great sapphire, to match her eyes. It was a beautiful piece and every girl was jealous of her. They danced the entire night, never changing partners, for the chagrin of most and left together in the end of the ball. Many thought that they would begin dating, especially when Daphne was Harry's hostage in the second task, but it never happened, for much delight of the fangirls. They became friends but weren't that close. Daphne's power grew and she became a great player in Slytherin's power games. In her fifth year, after the dark lord's return, which no one believed, Daphne chose to ally herself with the ministry, as many of her housemates did, joining the junior squad to uphold the ministerial laws imposed by the high inquisitor, their DADA teacher, Dolores Umbridge. As a DADA teacher, Umbridge was horrible and that led to a group of Gryffindors forming an illegal defence club for OWLS study, led by know-it-all Granger and the red head pig Ron Weasley. They managed to evade the squad for a time but were caught thanks to the unlikeliest person of them all. Harry Potter.

Harry Potter never forgave his former house or friends for the betrayal at their hands during the TriWizard tournament and when he discovered where the illegal group was meeting, he alerted Daphne and the squad. In fact, it had been Potter that brought down the wards around the class room they were using when Draco Malfoy proved to be useless doing it. The illegal group members received punishments and while Umbridge wanted to punish Potter too, Daphne and most of the squad defended him, much to Malfoy and Umbridge frustration. Eventually, OWLS came and Daphne sat all her exams with ease. She even managed to cast a corporeal patronus at request of her examinators, who had heard of Harry Potter's exploits and wanted to be fair to everyone. Only two patronus were seen that day: Harry's wolf, which surprised those who knew his patronus to be a stag and Daphne's falcon.

With the end of the year, after the sensational news of a duel between Potter and the dark lord in the ministry of magic, Daphne was informed by her parents that she was to be wed to a old nobleman in the continent, to form an alliance that could protect the Greengrasses in the war. Outraged, Daphne refused his parents' wishes and it was said by Astoria Greengrass that there was spell fire involved in the discussion. Daphne saw herself disowned by her father and left the Greengrass household, disappearing for the entire summer, being seen only in platform 9 3/4 the following September, wearing muggle clothes before entering the train. She had lost all her friends after being disowned and Slytherin house expected to bully her or even use her for their pleasure but she had other intentions. She cursed every pretender to the leadership of the house in the first night of her sixth year, right in the middle of Slytherin's common room, much as they were pretending to do to her. Doing it, Daphne NoName became the undisputed leader of the house and no one dared challenge her. Some of her former friends wanted to associate with he again, mostly for the prestige but she refused them, becoming the sole leader of the house.

Being a true Slytherin, she refused the idea of kneeling before another. Her moto was "Slytherins don't serve, Slytherins rule". That was the reason she refused to even hear Malfoy's idea of rebelling against Dumbledore and the ministry and allow the dark lord to enter Hogwarts. She didn't care for Dumbledore at all. She didn't care for the dark lord either and she considered him as a menace for the entire world. She made her decision and used Draco Malfoy to illustrate her views. Either Slytherin was with her or against her. Mostly by fear, every slytherin joined her side, especially because they knew they couldn't beat her.

The day after she dealt with Malfoy, the Dark lord marched into the school grounds, leading his entire army. Dumbledore and Minister Bones thought fitting that they would meet the dark lord in a similar fashion, heading their own army, made of the remaining aurors, Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, the teachers of Hogwarts and the parents and students that volunteered. All in all, the Light Side had approximately fifty able fighters and nearly a hundred volunteers, mostly sixth and seventh years and parents who had never fought in their lives. They were clearly outnumbered and outclassed.

Daphne snorted when she saw her former parents nervously fussing around her former sister Astoria, who had tears in her eyes. The snobbish princess finally understood that life wasn't full of roses as her parents always made her life. It was dangerous and you could very well loose it all in a fleeting moment. Daphne noticed that her former mother looked in her direction as Daphne passed by them and stood tall among those that intended to resist the dark lord. With her stood some others, like Tracy Davies, who had been Daphne's best friend until the previous summer and Theodore Nott, Tracy's boyfriend, whose father had died in the ministry in the previous summer, serving the dark lord. Theo was not a pureblood supremacist as his father was and neither was Tracy, both deciding to stand with the light.

Among the Order of the Phoenix, every member wondered where Harry Potter was. According with students and staff, he hadn't been seen for almost a week. That didn't bode well for them. Had Harry run away like a coward? Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend until their fourth year seemed to think so. His girlfriend, Hermione Granger shared his opinion but there were others, such as Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks that disagreed.

They were all brought out of their reveries when they saw the dark lord approaching and grinning. His victory was at hand and he could feel it.

"Dumbledore! Minister Bones! Surrender the castle and throw down your wands. Deliver to me the Potter boy and declare your allegiance to me and live. Refuse me and die!" shouted the dark lord, his voice enhanced by a sonorus charm. Before Dumbledore could answer, however, the Dark lord continued "Any of you that wishes to change sides, this is the time to do it. Join us in our cause and we shall have peace and prosperity. I shall forgive..."

"You know nothing of forgiveness, Voldemort" shouted back minister Bones "Put down your wands and surrender to the minister forces and we shall give you a fair trial..." every soldier in Voldemort's army laughed and their lord was not an exception.

"Minister Bones, it seems that you have missed recent changes in our government." the dark lord laughed "As of three days ago, we are the ministry forces." The dark lord turned again to all those who stood against him.

"This is your last chance. Deliver me Potter and join us or die with the filthy mudbloods and the blood traitor muggle lovers." There was some commotion among the defenders and an opening was formed. Through it, a body was levitated nearly a foot from the ground, being suddenly thrown into the air without a sound, towards the dark lord.

The defenders recognized the body of Draco Malfoy, severely beaten and cursed. He should be in the hospital wing, resting and recuperating from his injuries, madam Pomfrey had seen to that. Why was he there? Dumbledore attempted to rescue young Malfoy but whoever had him in the spell, threw him before he could do anything. Some of the defenders paled and others snickered. Everyone knew that Malfoy was a marked death eater and barely anyone pitied the bastard after he was found beaten the previous day.

"DRACO!" sounded a woman's voice in the ranks of the death eaters. The same woman ran past her master and knelt before the mangled body of her son. Narcissa Malfoy breathed in relief when she discovered that her son was still breathing but was shocked that the so called light side had treated her son like that.

So was the dark lord, who hid a smirk. He disliked the Malfoy brat and whoever had done it deserved a chance to join his ranks, after a good deal of punishment for attacking one of his death eaters. Once again, the dark lord spoke, his voice enhanced by magic.

"Who is the responsible for this?" no one answered. Instead, a new path was opened and a black haired girl came forward. She had her wand in her hand and was dressed in a black Hogwarts robe, showing the Slytherin colours. Her face was cold and her blue eyes roamed through the dark lord's forces. The girl didn't speak at all, instead she looked at the dark lord and felt a powerful legillimancy attack. The dark lord could only be surprised when he found himself expelled from the girl mind without even discover anything.

"Who are you, girl and how dare you to face me?" By then, the defenders were appalled to see the ice queen facing the dark lord without fear. In truth, some were still surprised to see Daphne against the dark lord. Throughout the year, she had shown a vicious side of her while ruling Slytherin and many considered her a new Bellatrix Lestrange. When the girl didn't answer back, one death eater step forward.

"That is Daphne NoName, formerly Greengrass, my lord. She is also considered to be the queen of Slytherin." answered the voice of Severus Snape behind the white death eater mask. Said voice was easily recognized by Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix and many were disgusted.

"Severus, why have you betrayed me?" asked Dumbledore, with a hint of anger in his voice, his grandfather facade gone.

"It is hard to betray one to whom I have never been loyal to, you muggle loving old fool." spat Snape, revealing his face. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, among others were fuming against the traitor. Dumbledore himself was quite baffled. His plans were all going down by the minute and the Potter brat wasn't anywhere to be found. Voldemort simply sneered against the order, before turning his attention to the girl again.

"Join me, Daphne NoName." ordered the dark lord, looking towards the raven haired girl "I shall grant you power beyond your dreams to wash away your dishonour and in exchange, I demand only your allegiance and that of the noble house of Salazar Slytherin. "

"Don't you dare, you filthy snake!" shouted Ron Weasley, once again, proving to be unable to understand how delicate the situation truly was. Hermione tried to shut him up but he continued to rant against Slytherins until Daphne couldn't take it anymore.

"Can anyone shut up that useless weasel? Either that or kill him, I don't care, as long as he shuts the hell up." she shouted, shutting up Weasley and gaining a lot of glares from the defenders, especially from the Weasley family and Hermione, although many of the defenders agreed with her assessment. The death eaters laughed loud, as did Voldemort.

"Join me, Daphne, and you can shut him up yourself." invited Voldemort once again, his anger for having to repeat himself very well disguised in his words.

"A true Slytherin rules, isn't ruled." Daphne quoted her own mantra in a loud voice, one that any proper Slytherin should know by heart "I am a true Slytherin and as such, I refuse to kneel before someone as unworthy of my allegiance as you."

Silence fell. Most of the defenders turned wide eyed to Daphne, especially her former friends. They had always known she was headstrong but to say such a thing in the face of the dark lord was pure madness, worthy of a Gryffindor. Some snickered, even though they were unable to truly understand the words Daphne had spoken. Curiously, Sirius Black, understood the mantra, thanks to having been raised in a Slytherin household. Or he thought he understood and in that moment, he knew that every rumour he had heard was true, the Daphne girl was truly dangerous.

The death eaters gasped and some snarled in anger for the girl's insolence. Bellatrix Lestrange, who was close to her master was one of them. However, before anyone could say anything, Daphne continued.

"There was one, once, who deserved my allegiance and that of the entire noble house of Salazar Slytherin. He was a great student and a greater leader and everyone respected him, even the teachers. That was, until you killed him." By then no one knew of whom Daphne was speaking and even Voldemort was confused. He doubted that he had killed such a great man if he truly existed. He allowed her to continue "The best part? This great Slytherin that could have become the minister of magic or any other position of leadership in our world, leading us to a new age was a half blood whose father was a simple muggle!" shouts rose from the death eaters and some wanted to curse the bitch. Voldemort didn't move at all. He simply widened his eyes "I would have followed Tom Marvollo Riddle, had you not killed him" Daphne confessed, cold eyes directed to the dark lord, who was sneering "I will never follow you!" she stressed the "never" and sneered to the dark lord.

Dumbledore was suddenly afraid. He knew quite well who Tom Marvollo Riddle came to be and he knew how powerful Daphne seemed to be. If Voldemort revealed the truth and if Daphne changed allegiances, they would lose a powerful wand and probably all the Slytherins. That was unacceptable. McGonagall gasped. She couldn't believe what she had heard. Miss Greengrass... no, Daphne had always been a powerful witch. The previous summer, with her disownment she became dark and vicious, exactly the type of person found among the death eaters. Was she lost already? Had they failed to save her?

Daphne's former family simply looked strangely to her former daughter. Daphne had always been a cold defiant bitch and they were not surprised to hear her arrogant words. However, they were surprised to hear about this person she admired, someone that the dark lord had killed but that they never heard about.

While everyone was trying to process Daphne's words, no one noticed how her hand clasped her wand, clearly showing that she was very nervous, something not revealed by her face.

"You foolish girl." shouted Voldemort, anger clear in her voice "You dare to insult me? The most powerful wizard alive? I AM ..." Voldemort recognized the trap in the last minute and smirked. The girl truly was cunning, he'd grant her that and he almost fell for it. Had he declared himself to be Tom Riddle, the halfblood, the purebloods would probably defect and he would lose a great part of his forces.

Daphne spat silently as she saw her plan fail and she widened her eyes as Bellatrix Lestrange advanced to her master and knelt before him.

"My lord, I beg of you the permission to punish this whelp for insulting you."

"Permission granted, Bella." Voldemort announced, smirking "You may kill her as well." Bellatrix smiled in joy and turned to the girl, pointing her wand to her. In a reflex, Daphne rose her own wand to Bellatrix and both women stood there, watching each other, until the crazed death eater spoke again.

"I challenge you for a duel!" Bellatrix shouted in glee. Daphne swallowed dry and step forward, surprising everyone.

"Daph, what are you doing?" asked Tracy, very concerned with her friend. Daphne simply glared at her former friend who had abandoned her before and went around her, ignoring the looks everyone was giving her. Once again, no one noticed how she was clasping her wand.

"I accept your challenge." answered Daphne, whose wand never stopped pointing at Bellatrix. She simply dropped her school robes and revealed a black hide battle armour with two daggers at her belt. The defenders were surprised, especially those that knew Daphne. She seemed to be prepared for battle, opposed to Bellatrix Lestrange, who was simply wearing death eaters robes.

The crazed death eater smiled and both women bowed. Bellatrix was the first to cast a dark curse that Daphne evaded, answering with a piercing hex pointed to Bellatrix's gut. The older woman raised a shield and evaded a flurry of spells from Daphne, retaliating in a similar fashion. Unlikely as it was, Daphne was able to fight Bellatrix for more than five minutes. That alone had impressed the dark lord. While the duel started, he smirked, predicting a great deal of suffering for the girl. Bella was one of the best duellers in his forces, almost second to him and knew many dark spells, taught by himself. However, Voldemort's smirk vanished as he saw a sixteen years old witch facing Bella and being able to stand against her. Not only that but she also had a vast knowledge of dark curses. The girl was clearly a trained dueller and very impressive, indeed. Much more impressive was the fact that the girl was adept of silent casting and almost all spells were casted as such. A calculating look conquered the dark lord eyes as he saw Bella evading a blood boiling curse, followed by a powerful Confringo and a Entrail-Expelling Curse. It was hard to understand if Bellatrix was angry or simply enjoying herself because although she was snarling, laughs could be heard from her.

Everyone was astonished by the display of the two witches. While everyone knew that Bellatrix was indeed a mean and vicious dueller, they clearly hadn't expected to see such a display from Daphne. Her former family members were such. Truth was that they never really cared for Daphne as they should. For her father, Daphne was only a possession to be sold in marriage. It didn't help that Daphne wasn't the precious pureblood daughter, submissive and respective. No, Daphne was rebellious, strong minded and usually saw herself cursed for defying her parents. Nothing like Astoria, who they both preferred. After disowning Daphne, they never regretted it and now, they were seeing her facing one of the most dangerous death eaters ever, standing almost as an equal of the crazed witch. Her father could only spat, considering how foolish the bitch was for throwing her life away. Good riddance. Lord Sirius Black was rooting in silence for the young witch. He didn't know her but he knew her cousin and knew she was too dangerous. The girl clearly was impressive and she had his full support. Filius Flitwick, former duel champion and duelling master was very impressed. He had taught Daphne for years and he never recognized her potential in duelling and he regretted it. She was clearly very inventive, able to use combinations of charms to create devastating weapons, such as levitating and banishing debris against her opponent and turning them into explosives. Daphne was impressive, yes, but could she do it? Minerva McGonagall wanted to believe that she could. She also wanted to believe that Daphne would not fall to the dark. She wanted help her but she couldn't as of duelling rules. She was, however, impressed by her technique and dared to feel hope.

Much as the dark lord, Dumbledore had a calculating look, evaluating how useful would be if he could influence Daphne and bring her into the light. The Potter brat had to die to defeat Voldemort but he could still have an apprentice. Not that miss Granger and young Mr. Weasley weren't suitable, but Daphne was a much better option. Hermione and Ron were simply performing imitations of fish. They believed that because they were Dumbledore's unofficial apprentices, being instructed by the headmaster and the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix, they were very strong. Clearly they were wrong although none of them would admit it in their arrogance.

Voldemort was starting to become impatient with the duel but before he could do anything, either to finish the duel or convince a promising pureblood dueller to join him, Bellatrix hit Daphne with a piercing hex on her side, penetrating her armour. Daphne screemed in pain and fell on her knee. She was unable to raise a shield and saw herself disarmed by a cackling Bellatrix. The crazed witch simply laugh.

"So promising... I will break you if that's my lord's desire and train you." Bellatrix declared, turning to her master who simply agreed to her intentions with a very pleased smile that warmed Bella's chest "In the meantime, CRUCIO!" As the yellowish light beam was directed to Daphne, who was still clinging to her side, the younger witch rolled to the side and twitched her right hand, which drew a second wand from her sleeve and casted a reducto against Bellatrix, a confringo to her legs and a second reducto. While Bellatrix was surprised, she defended the first reducto but was unable to dodge the blast of the confringo. She lost her balance and the second reducto hit her in the chest, blasting her torax. Bellatrix didn't have an immediate death. She agonized for seconds, unable to properly breathe before another spell from Daphne hit her, making the crazed witch convulse before becoming immobile. For her part, Daphne fell on her knees, grabbing her flank while holding her second wand, which was her most prized possession. She ignored the silence around her, that became celebration for Bellatrix's death. Her focus was the dark lord who was seething.

_ I'm sorry, I failed._ Daphne thought before seeing the dark lord raising her wand against her. "You will serve me! CRUCIO!"

Daphne widened her eyes, anticipating the pain but somehow, a shape took form before her, intercepting the yellow beam. Hisses of pain were heard by all who had went silent and no one understood but two people.

"_Mistress!_" hissed a snake, before hisses of pain were listened.

"_Serrah, NO_!" hissed Daphne, making use of her parseltongue abilities, which shocked everyone, including Voldemort, who cancelled the spell. Between both speakers, a python had appeared, one that apparently addressed the girl as her mistress.

"You are a parselmouth?" asked Voldemort, only to shake his own surprise. The python slithered to Daphne and coiled itself around her arm, going to her neck, clearly in pain.

"_Serrah, why?_" asked Daphne, ignoring the dark lord and flinching again from the pain in her flank.

"_I felt your distress through the bond, mistress. I had to come to you._" the snake replied.

"_Impressive!_" said Voldemort, also in parseltongue, already planning "_You will be a great servant, such is your potential and abilities. You will go far serving me._"

"_Go to hell, you sickening bastard._" hissed Daphne in anger. No one else understood it but the anger was clear. Everyone was surprised, not only because Daphne had defeated Bellatrix but also because she was a parselmouth. Somehow Daphne kept such knowledge only for herself... and since when did she had a snake familiar? Her former family didn't know and neither did Tracy. Everyone was simply wide eyed, looking to the dark lord and Daphne, unsure of what was happening or what would happen, instead of simply try to help her from the dark lord.

"_You will be my servant, girl, you have no choice in this matter._" hissed Voldemort, raising her wand again. Suddenly, Daphne flew from the Dark lord to her right. She was alarmed and shouted but found herself in strong arms who grabbed her and rotated her to safety, making her duck.

"GET TO SAFETY! NOW!" shouted her saviour, his tone giving no chance to discussion, before turning his wand to the Dark Lord, casting a greyish spell.

"POTTER!" sneered Voldemort in recognition, defending the spell. Most of the death eaters mimicked their master but none intervened against the Boy-Who-Lived. For their part, the defenders breathed in relief and excitement as they saw their saviour appearing out of nowhere, immediately cursing the dark lord. Of course, once again, no one did anything to help Harry Potter, the so called Wizarding Saviour. Not that Harry Potter cared. He stopped caring during his fourth year.

Gone was the scrawny little boy, fragile and shy. The man before them as the complete opposite. Tall and well build, an imposing figure that radiated power, the boy-who-lived wore black battle armour made from basilisk skin and had several daggers and potions strapped in a chest belt. Spells were traded back and forward between the dark lord and the boy-who-lived. They cast dangerous spells and both of them fought with great intensity and power. Both men were angry with each other and were determined to see the other fall. Harry Potter and the dark lord traded no words, made no speeches. They had this coming since the previous summer and they were angry. Their anger mollified all that were seeing the duel, especially the defenders of Hogwarts. Neville Longbottom had broken the lines and went to get Daphne to safety. He heard Harry's order to her and he felt he owed her since she killed Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the four responsible for his parents situation.

"Come, quick." said Neville, offering Daphne a hand. She grunted and accepted the Gryffindor's hand, being taken back to the safety of the lines and to madam Pomfrey's care. Not that anyone cared, since everyone was focusing in the duel between Harry and Voldemort. Madam Pomfrey fussed a little around her but her injuries weren't serious. Her armour had protected her from the worst. Daphne already knew that and she turned her attention back to the duel. She couldn't avoid feeling herself in awe. In fact, she doubted that anyone seeing the duel was not in awe. Neville Longbottom was one of such people. After receiving a kiss from his girlfriend Hannah Abbot, for bravery and helping Daphne, he and her could only feel awed as they saw Harry duel Voldemort as an equal. Neville hadn't been really close to Harry before fourth year, but each considered each other as a friend. When Neville didn't have the courage to stand by Harry's side after Gryffindor house banished him after fourth year's halloween, Harry was disappointed with his friend but Neville came by and apologize two days later. It had been two days too late but still he knew he had done wrong, more than most people. Harry accepted his apologies but didn't forgive him. Still, Neville was the one Gryffindor that Harry didn't hate too much and he even helped him with some spell work, which increased Neville confidence and self esteem. It was thanks to that that he got the required confidence to ask out Hannah Abbot, over whom he had a crush on. She said yes and they had started dating during Christmas holidays of their sixth year.

Hannah was one of those who had used the badge in their fourth year and had sneered at Potter and she regretted it. Especially after Harry swore a wizards oath saying that he hadn't put his name in the cup. Needless to say, every Hufflepuff felt like an idiot as did she. They never got to deserve his forgiveness, neither did he offered it. He simply ignored them as he requested them to ignore him. Unknowingly, by starting to date Neville, Hannah got some measure of respect from the boy-who-lived. He would never admit it, but Harry always enjoyed Neville's company, even after the fallout with Gryffindor and the rest of the school.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were members of the Order of the Phoenix and had once been the best friends of Harry Potter, until the day they chose not to believe in their best friend about the whole name coming out of the cup of fire thing. It was them who started the movement to banish Harry from the tower. They were successful and after that, Harry completely disappeared in Hogwarts, appearing only for classes. No one knew where he was or how he was doing but unlike everyone was expecting, his grades improved a lot. Even his temper improved. An infamous moment was the day that Malfoy revealed the badges for Cedric Diggory Support. Instead of wanting to shout or even curse Malfoy, Harry had simply laughed in the face of everyone who was wearing a badge and complimented Malfoy on a prank worthy of a three years old. Some of the students also suspected it had been Harry Potter to charm the badges to spell "I have been felt up by Snape and I loved it" instead "Potter Stinks", during dinner the day that the badges had been revealed and all those that followed. It was an outrage and although there were no proofs, Snape issued detention to Harry.

When the staff finally decided to confront Harry on his arrangements, intending on convincing him to return to Gryffindor house dorms, he revealed nothing, stating only that Hogwarts had granted him asylum in some chambers and that he would not be returning for Gryffindor house ever. If they were so concerned about his arrangements, they should give him a new sorting or expel him so that he could find an alternative for his education. As it was expected, the headmaster refused both options and the meeting took them nowhere. These news angered Gryffindor house even more, especially Ron and Hermione. Of course, it didn't help that they were being paid by Dumbledore to spy on Harry and keep him under watch and if they couldn't do it, they wouldn't be paid. Their mission was even to make him slack off in his work, so he would not become too powerful. The plan was to turn everyone against him and forcing him to come to them and the headmaster, begging for help for the tournament. It didn't happen. A confidant Harry Potter entered the stadium where the Hungarian Horntail was expecting him and a most fantastic display of magic happened. Potter tried to speak to the dragon in parseltongue but it refused to answer back and somehow, Harry saw himself fighting for his life. He even managed to kill the dragon, suffering some serious injuries but nothing life threatening. In the aftermath, everyone was in awe of him, even the Durmstrang and Beauxbattons students. Harry made is wizard oath then, humiliating Hogwarts in front of their guests, simply because no one had the foresight of asking him for a wizard's oath and for accusing him without proof. He explained he waited that long because he wanted to give them a chance but no one was smart enough to ask for it and he was done on helping people. Since Gryffindor house had banish him, he would not be returning to the tower ever and he even swore an oath on it. The morale was low in Hogwarts for the following days, until the day that a very angry Harry Potter entered the great hall during dinner. His magic was wild, his aura flared and his green eyes shone dark green. He went directly to the headmaster and delivered to him a stack of papers. Dumbledore went white as a ghost and Harry simply turned his back on him, proclaiming that he'd better return all that he had stolen from house Potter before the goblins started to claim it all back. Some days later, it became known that Harry Potter had been emancipated thanks to his forced participation in the TriWizards tournament and was able to claim his title as lord of House Potter. Apparently, Dumbledore had been acting as Harry's guardian and willingly ignored the Potter's will and stole several thousands of galleons from the Potter vaults. He claimed that it was for the greater good and that he had permission from James Potter to withdraw the money. Because he was Albus Dumbledore, he was believed but thanks to the goblins, he was forced to pay back most of what he had taken since the death of James and Lily Potter. Not only that, Harry also discovered a greater betrayal: Hermione and Ron were being paid with his money to be his friends. None saved them from Harry's wrath and the confrontation that definitively split the golden trio would be forever remembered in Hogwarts. Both of them were left with nothing after the legal intervention of the goblins and even the entire Weasley family paid the same price, for pretending to care about him, only to get his money, promised by Dumbledore. They even had an illegal betrothal contract with Harry and Ginny's name on it. Of course, after being proved illegal, they lost even more and Arthur Weasley, being the head of house was accused of line theft. Only the intervention of Dumbledore saved the Weasley patriarch from Azkaban, much for Harry's dislike. It seemed that Dumbledore was all powerful, being able to save his spies from either expulsion and imprisonment because even though they lost almost everything, the Weasleys still remained in Hogwarts and in freedom. Of course, the Weasleys hated Harry at that point and Dumbledore had gone to the point of stating that Harry had turned dark, to which Harry's response was a very public and a very sound "SO WHAT?", which shocked everyone in wizarding Britain..

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had been the closest thing Harry had as a family, next to the Weasleys themselves. They were the last link to his long lost parents so, even after Harry had capture Peter Pettigrew in the graveyard in the end of the third task and proved Sirius' innocence, it was a hard blow when they too betrayed Harry. True, they really thought they were doing the best thing and they trusted the headmaster's judgment when he claimed to want Harry's safety but when Sirius said that Harry HAD to go back to the Dursley's during the summer, Harry simply showed him his head of house ring, asking his godfather under which authority he would force him to do so. Harry vanished by portkey and the Order of the Phoenix frantically searched him for nearly a month. In August, Harry accepted an invitation to stay with his godfather for some time. That was a mistake. It turned out that the house was being used as a headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix and as a home for the Weasleys who sneered at him when they saw him. Harry ignored them and demanded to know what was his godfather's idea of having those people in the same house as him. It didn't go well to Sirius and after a huge discussion with his godfather and after a very pleasant conversation with the portrait of Walburga Black, pointing out the failures of Sirius as a person, as a family member, brother, godfather and son, Harry simply vanished by portkey, never to return to that place. A shame, because he really did like to speak with the former Lady Black. When Sirius and Remus finally saw their errors, it was too late. When Harry reappeared at the Hogwarts Express for his fifth year, he came changed, angry and dangerous. He ignored Sirius, Remus, the Weasleys and the Order of the Phoenix, returning to his life in his secret chambers as the year before. They continued to try to speak to him, but failed and the boiling point was the howler Sirius sent Harry one morning while Harry was having breakfast at Ravenclaw's table, one of the few occasions Harry was seen outside classes. All Ravenclaw students saw his anger and could swear his eyes glowed green. Nothing like that ever happened before and when Sirius and Remus appeared in Hogwarts, they spent an entire week at Madam Pomfrey's care after ten seconds with Harry and like Harry had said, he had been soft. Those who witnessed it decided again that Harry Potter was not to be trifled with.

Both marauders saw Harry again in the end of his fifth year, in the beginning of the summer break. Somehow, Harry had got information about the prophecy hidden in the department of mysteries and entered the halls of prophecy to claim it with the help of the unspeakables and madam Bones. Harry rose a silence ward around himself and heard the prophecy. Everyone saw how angry he had become and watched him destroy the orb, for no one to hear it ever again, although Harry was sure Dumbledore had a copy somewhere. When he was leaving the ministry, death eaters came out of nowhere and started to try to capture Potter and get the prophecy. Harry proved again he was a powerful wizard and many death eaters died that day, with almost no losses in the ministry side. The highlight of the day, however, was the duel between Harry and Voldemort, witnessed by all ministry staff and the minister who had slander Harry's name all year thanks to Dumbledore influences. The duel was terrible and awe inspiring. Dumbledore tried to intervene, probably trying to gain some gratitude from Harry and trying to bring him to his control, but unfortunately for him, Harry proved to be a match for Voldemort. He even hit a cutting curse that cut Voldemort's wand arm. After that, the dark lord was able to grab his cut arm and wand and was forced to flee by portkey. After answering all questions from the aurors and ignoring Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry portkeyed back to his home, only to reappear once again for the Hogwarts Express. Sirius and Remus knew they had failed Harry and that he would never forgive them.

Albus Dumbledore knew that for the dark lord Voldemort to be destroyed, Harry Potter had to die. Of course, Harry refused to see that the greater good was far more important and he simply refused to be under the guidance of the headmaster, guidance which would allow Dumbledore to manipulate Harry and get the entire Potter fortune for himself. He wondered where he had failed in his plans and realized that it was somewhere around Harry's fourth year. He was brought back from his thoughts when he heard a most interesting conversation from Potter and Voldemort.

"You will never defeat me, Potter. Even if you have grown in power, I am immortal." shouted Voldemort, casting a Entrail-Expelling curse, dodging a glacius charm, intending on freezing him.

"You are nothing more than a misguided fool, Riddle." shouted Harry, dodging the curse and answering with a confringo and a blood boiler, to which Voldemort reflected to Harry, who conjured a flaming whip. Voldemort waved his wand and froze the flames, retaliating with a pillar of flame that took the shape of a massive fiery snake.

"Am I, Potter? I command magics that you can not fathom. I am the most powerful wizard alive." replied Voldemort as the snake attacked Harry, who simply retaliated with a similar spell, which remained shapeless. The two flames hit each other and consumed each other. Both wizards relinquished their spells and Harry restarted with another glacius that missed Voldemort but froze a pillar of rock.

"You might be but you made a mistake when you created all those horcruxes!" declared Harry, simply as if he was talking about the weather. Those who heard them gasped. Were the Horcruxes the secret of how the dark lord had achieved immortality and evaded death? Dumbledore paled. That wouldn't do. Curses upon the Potter brat for revealing his secrets. How did he know? McGonagall knew of such foul things and gasped hearing it. Sirius and Remus also knew what it meant and both men looked at each other, concerned with both the revelation and with the fact that Harry knew of such things.

Voldemort got angrier.

"You know?" he shouted, casting an avada kadava, which Harry blocked by conjuring a stone in front of it and rolling to the side, casting a reducto and a rumpere. The dark lord evaded again and raised a shield in front of him.

"Know? Why do you think I have been missing for the past week?" asked Harry with a snarl and a shout, conjuring several silvery daggers around him and throwing them against the dark lord. He also picked two vials he had on his belt and threw them against his enemy, shattering them with a spell. Voldemort avoided the liquid for short and quickly realized that it was flammable liquid. He avoided it and was almost hit by a bone breaker curse. The dark lord retaliated with a Sectumsempra and Harry retaliated with a confringo. Both men started get tired and breath hard. The duel was pushing them too far.

"What do you mean, Potter?" asked Voldemort as soon as his nemesis words hit home.

Harry breathed in.

"I discovered your secret, my lord." spat Harry with a smirk "I also knew that you intended to use my murder that night to create your seventh horcrux." People gasped. Voldemort paled and Harry continued "You failed but you did trap a piece of your soul in my scar, one that has accompanied me for all this time, leeching my magic to survive. " The revelation was disgusting and many people wanted to throw up "I just needed a good deal of occlumency and a very strong will and I was able to learn all your secrets up to the point you attacked me... and just like that, I learned of your Horcruxes and their locations."

"Damn you to hell, Potter!" shouted Voldemort, casting fiendfyre against Harry, who replied with the same spell. The two infernal flame shocked and duelled each other, changing shapes between snakes, manticores and basilisks. None of the wizards backed down and suddenly, both wands began to tremble and a narrow beam of bright light connected the two wands. It was nothing new for both men, they had seen Priori Incantatem before, in the night of Voldemort resurrection, however, both had forgot it and were unprepared as the echoes of previous spells began to come out of each wand. None of them let go of his spell and the flames roared around them. Defenders and death eaters had to step back not to be burned.

"I have destroyed them all!" shouted Harry, over the roars of the fiendfyre "Every Horcrux you had, I destroyed them using a ritual that drained me for almost a week." The revelation shocked everyone, especially Dumbledore. Amelia Bones allowed herself to have hope as did everyone who was seeing the duel. Voldemort was paler and seething "Even the one in me and guess what, it wasn't your horcrux that made me a parselmouth. Your horcrux was only a leech in me, draining my magic to survive!"

"I will kill you Potter. How dare you to destroy my anchors!"

"Fuck you, Voldemort! You have outlived your time in this world." Suddenly, Harry stretched his left arm, his palm pointing to Voldemort while his right hand still held his holly wand strong. Harry hissed in parseltongue " _TONITRUALIS MAXIMUS_".

A lightning barrage jumped from Harry's left hand and jumped against Voldemort, hitting the dark lord in his chest. Voldemort screamed in agony and dropped the fiendfyre spell. He realized it too late and was engulfed by the demonic flames. The air was filled with his screams and the smell of burning flesh and in mere moments, the flames were gone. Everything that remained of the darkest lord in the last two centuries was a pile of ash.

No one dared to say a word. Some of the defenders soiled themselves with what they saw and even some death eaters were appalled. Their master had been defeated, as had his second in command, Bellatrix Lestrange. The dark lord was dead. Definitively dead, if the Potter boy was to be believed... and even if he wasn't, after what they saw...

"Fuck this!" shouted a death eater in the back, turning away and starting to run from Hogwarts, intending to apparate out as soon as possible. It only took one and suddenly, most of the death eaters were running away from Potter who was glaring at them.

"Bloody Hell!" someone shouted, most likely Ron Weasley for the sound of it. That brought Albus Dumbledore out of his shock.

" Albus... " professor McGonagall begun, unable to formulate words that could express her thoughts " I can't believe it. He did it..."

Dumbledore simply mumbled incoherently in fear. However, it was not the fear that young Harry James Potter had gone dark, no, it was fear of the power he wielded... Clearly greater than his own... Now, how would he take control of the Potter estate and share it with his Order of the Phoenix if the boy refused to die for the greater good?

A loud shout was heard and the defenders all joined in celebration, hailing Harry Potter as their saviour. The young man in question simply ignored them and kept his eyes on the death eaters that remained before him, not more than fifty.

"Surrender now and you will live " Harry declared in a cold voice. One of the death eaters snarled and cast the killing curse at Harry, who blocked it with a stone screen, ducking and retaliating with the silver daggers spell he had used before. At least five death eaters were caught by the daggers before they were able to do anything and the defenders were brought out of their celebration and started to send their own spells against the death eaters that were still attacking. With such a difference in numbers, the death eater menace was quickly vanquished and all of them were either death or incarcerate by spells, some begging for mercy, others spitting and cursing.

The celebration returned and although many wanted to go to Harry and even carrying him in the air, as a hero should, while many girls wanted to snog him, none had the courage to do so. Not even the minister.

Harry remained on his spot and simply sigh, before turning back to the defenders with the greatest everyone had ever seen in his face in the last years. Girls were flustered and many felt their legs had become jelly.

Harry simply rose his left hand and they all saw Daphne NoName being lifted in the air and pulled to him. They all saw her big smile, as big as Harry's which was very strange. The ice queen never smiled.

"I hate when you do this!" shouted Daphne. However, she wasn't scowling or even angry. She extended her arms and grabbed Harry by his neck, while he grabbed her by the waist and rotated her in the spot, both laughing "You won!" They both kissed with longing, each grabbing the other as close as they could, their bodies threatening to merge together while their tongues duelled. They would have continued if it hadn't been for an angry hiss coming from Daphne's chest, revealing her pet snake.

Both Harry and Daphne broke the kiss and they both hissed to the snake, laughing afterwards and kissing again. Silence fell and only jealous growls were heard from the girls.

Everyone was gaping. Even though Ginny hated Harry, she still wanted his money and fame and therefore, she growled, wanting to curse the bitch. However, in a rare moment of foresight, she simply stopped before she was in trouble. Boys could not believe what they were seeing, especially some who had been cursed by the Ice Queen for their advances. Dumbledore was livid, this was even more against his plans for the greater good. McGonagall had a tear in her eyes and felt her heart wrenching at the sight of the two teens so madly in love. Suddenly, a suspicion rose in her, wondering on how they both had improved so much, as it did in Filius Flitwick and the other teachers. Had they been working together since their fourth year? Tracy Davies an most Slytherin present dropped their jaw. Daphne and Potter? How? Since when?

Daphne former parents, lord and lady Greengrass, were completely paled. They saw the display that their daughter had given and they were suddenly afraid of her. They knew Daphne had something to hide when she refused the marriage contract that had disowned her but that... that was huge... thanks to Daphne's association with the boy... no, the man who defeated the dark lord, the Greengrasses could rise in influence... only then Lord Greengrass remembered that he would never have the power and influence he desired, since he had disowned his eldest daughter and to bring her back to the family, she needed to accept it, which somehow, he doubted she would. Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's sister, droped her jaw and was unable to speak. She couldn't believe that her sister had become so powerful or that she somehow got Harry freaking Potter. Never in her life she would suspect something like that. Yes, she suspected there was a boy in her sister's life but she never thought it was the golden gryffindor... or former gryffindor.

Sirius dropped his jaw after seeing his former godson kissing the beautiful girl with such a passion. After that he grinned in amusement after seeing the looks of envy on several girls. He wondered why Harry had never told him and finally he remembered that his godson had casted him out of his life and that was the reason he didn't knew. Remus had the same reaction but couldn't help it to smile. He remembered the former Miss Greengrass from his time at Hogwarts and knew instantly she was responsible for the cub's improvements.

Hermione had her mouth in O and could not believe what she was seeing. How could Harry date a dirty slimy slytherin? While her boyfriend Ron shared her thoughts, he also had the inability to keep them for himself.

" Oi, Potter, what the hell are you doing with the slimy slytherin, cheating on my sister? " he shouted, somehow still believing that the marriage contract was still valid, causing everyone's attention to focus on himself "You have to get married with her so..."

He never finished. Daphne's wand pointed at him and after silent casting, where Ron previously was, a red haired pig was on his place. The Weasley family, the order and Hermione gasped in shock while the students started laughing. Harry and Daphne grinned and kissed again.

"Thank you, my love" she whispered in his ear.

"For what?" he asked, looking her in the eyes, both ignoring the commotion pig-Ron was causing while the Weasleys tried to catch him and McGonagall tried to reverse Daphne's spell, which, according to the transfiguration mistress, was rather impressive. She was torn between taking points for attacking a student or giving her points for such a fantastic display.

"Your gift saved my life, today." she told him, smiling with tears on her eyes. He simply smiled, remembering the ten inch Blackthorn wand with a core made of a mixture of phoenix tears, basilisk poison and human blood. Harry's blood, the same mixture that ran in his veins. After they discovered how easy wandless magic was for him, Harry took a sample of his own blood to a wandmaker in Knockturn Alley, where he commissioned a wand with that core, if possible. It was expensive but the result was a powerful wand that tuned easily to Harry but it was a perfect match to Daphne. For that reason, Harry gifted the wand to Daphne, his girlfriend since the Christmas of their fourth year and she treasured it ever since.

"Will you marry me? " he murmured in her ear, to which she smiled, hugging him.

"I thought I had already said yes... " was her reply.

" I mean today." he whispered again.

"WHAT?!" she shouted, attracting everyone's attention while holding tears of joy and a huge grin on her face "You mean it?"

"Yes." Harry answered, looking her in the eyes, caressing her face "I don't want to wait anymore. We still have next year here, if we decide to come back at all, but since Voldemort is gone, there's nothing stopping us to come forward is there? I mean, it's just that...

She put a finger in his lips, successfully silencing him, smiling the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

"I'd love to. " He smiled and kissed her again, while she embraced him by the neck and hugged him, refusing to be apart.

"Daphne?" asked the voice of Tracy Davies, fear clearly in her voice, althouogh curiosity was stronger.

They both looked in the direction of the voice and saw everyone looking at them.

"Since when?" Tracy asked, receiving a snarl in response.

"If you must know, that would be the day of the Yule Ball." Daphne answered coldly. Her snake hissed something and Harry held his laughs, although Daphne smirked.

"That was in our fourth year..." someone whispered.

"Perceptive, aren't you?" asked Harry to the voice, receiving no response. Daphne simply leaned on Harry again before calling out "Dobby, Winky!"

Two house elves popped in existence before them, both of them jumping in joy around Daphne and Harry. Dobby hugged Harry, much to his embarrassment and Winky embraced Daphne, crying.

"Winky was so afraid for mistress..."

"Dobby always said Master Harry Potter, sir was a great wizard. He is the greatest and mistress Greenie is greatest witch ever..."

Both teens blushed and everyone widened their eyes.

"Can you pack everything we own? We will be going home, now." asked Daphne as soon as the elves calmed down. They both nodded and popped out again.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Daphne, I demand to know..." started Dumbledore, as soon as he heard that they intended to go home, where ever that was.

"Shut up, Dumbledore." replied Harry Potter in a cold voice "The exams are done and the term is going to finish in three days. I call on my rights to leave school early as head of House Potter and my betrothed is leaving with me. There is nothing you can do." Properly mollified, Dumbledore still wanted to say something but was interrupted by a glare from McGonagall.

"B - betrothed?" someone gasped in shock, to which none of the teens replied, simply rolled their eyes.

"That would be wife by the end of the day." replied Harry with a grin for Daphne, ignoring those who seemed to faint.

"Lord Potter, Ms..." started the minister, unsure on how to treat Daphne.

"Just call her Lady Potter. I like the sound of it..." helped Harry, getting a soft slap in his arm. Amelia Bones nodded and started again:

"Lord and future Lady Potter, I'd like to thank you for what you have done today and I'd like to commend you to Orders of Merlin, First Class." Both teens ignored the commotion and looked at each other, shrugging.~

"Thanks, I guess..." replied Harry in a cold tone "Although if you truly want to thank us, you can do it by leaving us the hell alone until September, should we decide to return to this place."

"I hope you understand, minister, both myself and my lord Potter have had several disappointments with Wizarding Britain and her citizens. We aren't that fond of... almost everyone. " replied Daphne, making Harry snort.

"That's an understatement."

"Harry, behave."

"Yes, love."

With that, both teens turned their backs on everyone, left gaping.

Even though they had been together for only two years and nearly a half, they knew they wanted each other. They survived their trials because they had each other to rely on and even though it was hell when they were separated, being together every night in the Chamber of Secrets, training, talking, even making the homework together made it worthwhile. Even when it broke her heart not being able to hug him in the halls when he needed to because people were watching, she would always go to the chamber that night to meet him. But no more hiding. Voldemort was dead and now they were finally free to be together.

And the best part? They owed their relationship to a stupid blonde ponce who decided to cross Daphne one night during their fourth year. Not that they would admit it, since they both hated the prick...

Daphne smiled to Harry as he grinned at her and with a pop, they both vanished from Hogwarts, intending to get married before the end of the day.

**"**_**TONITRUALIS MAXIMUS**__** " - lightning storm**_

**I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will not be developing this, simply because I don't have the time. I understand if you feel the story is very condensed but I tried to add as much information as possible and it isn't easy to condense years in just a oneshot. Again, thank you for the support and as usual, I'm waiting for your opinions.**

**It is likely that you saw similarities with "Paid in blood" This oneshot was idealized before "Paid in Blood ". If anything, "Paid in Blood is a spinoff of this story."**

**Noticed the "" instead of the - ? This is my first try with them. You can blame the portuguese educational system. In english classes, we write speeches and dialogs the same way as we do in portuguese: with - instead of "". So, if I made a mistake, please tell me so I can learn from it. Thank you.**

**Also, I have no beta so, I apologize for any mistake.**

**Best regards**

**zaterra02**


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